Alternative cabaret legends The Tiger Lillies have created a three-part album inspired by the classic opera Carmina Burana, written and recorded during lockdown.
The first part, called ‘Requiem For a Virus’ will be released exclusively on Bandcamp on Friday May 7, with 10 songs including ‘Dust‘, ‘The Boy‘ and ‘Nothing lasts’.
Singer and songwriter Martyn Jacques says: ‘Carmina Burana is a collection of 254 poems written by wandering poets, vagrants and singers from the 11th and 12th century. They cover greed, fate, hypocrisy, stupidity, sexual desire and death. The Tiger Lillies have taken them and applied them to 2021. A Requiem to A Virus, Fear and Chaos. A thousand years has gone by, but nothing changes.’
In their 30-year career The Tiger Lillies, whose style is inspired by Brechtian cabaret of 1930s, have never been afraid to sing about death, disease, pestilence and misery. So, it seemed like the perfect time to release this epic new song cycle. In the despair and tragedy of both Carmina Burana and the current world situation the band find immense beauty surviving among the detritus of despair.
This haunting and melancholy album was recorded in Athens, Greece in early 2021. The band had recorded and released 3 full albums already in 2020, and they continue to create and comment on the world during the ongoing pandemic, despite the enormous challenges the artistic community is experiencing.
The Tiger Lillies are scheduled to play Wilton’s Music Hall in East London in September. However, like many artists around the world, The Tiger Lillies are watching and waiting until live performances are allowed to resume.